


won't you fly away with me?

by lazyfish



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/pseuds/lazyfish
Summary: And when he saw her, he knew - he loved her to the point of invention.Or, Fitz invents something to help Bobbi fulfill her biggest dream - to fly.
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Bobbi Morse
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	won't you fly away with me?

“Fitz?” Bobbi called, carefully stepping over the pile of gears blocking the entranceway and walking further into the laboratory. She huffed softly, gathering her skirts up in her hands to make it easier to pick her way through the detritus. Fitz had never valued having a tidy workplace, which was all well and good, but _he_ never had to try to walk through it wearing floor-length skirts.

“Fi-itz,” she called again, twirling around to see if he had tucked himself away in one of the back corners of the conservatory he called home. Sunlight streamed in through the walls of windows, illuminating most of the room but still casting dark shadows that could easily hide a scatter-brained engineer.

“Up here!” came the distant reply. Bobbi’s shoulders slumped and she kicked a sheet of metal aside so she could male her way to the bottom of the spiral staircase leading up to the loft. Fitz didn’t normally work up there - it got hot in the summer thanks to the same sunlight that provided him with free lighting most of the day - but today must’ve been an exception.

When she arrived at the top of the staircase she found Fitz bent over a contraption she didn’t recognize, which wasn’t an atypical occurrence. He straightened when her footsteps stopped, flipping his safety goggles off his eyes and beaming broadly at her.

“I think I’ve had a breakthrough!” he exclaimed.

“Is that so?” Bobbi asked, perching herself on one of the stools at the opposite end of the long work table from Fitz. He had been working on a secret project for ages and refused to tell her anything other than he was having a difficult time with it. Bobbi would never show her frustration, but it had been rather irksome that he was so hung up on the project when he had promised to build her a flying machine as soon as he was done with it. Bobbi was beginning to think all the setbacks in this secret project were just excuses to keep her in their town forever.

Bobbi wanted to get out, of course. To say she had never fit in wouldn’t be right - there were people in Shieldtown she liked, even some she would call friends - but Bobbi had always longed for something _more_. She wanted an adventure, she wanted far-off places, further even than Triskelion City. She wanted freedom.

She hadn’t thought it possible until she’d met Fitz, though. A young inventor moving to the edge of the town had been all the gossips talked about for ages, and more than one young lady had called on Fitz’s laboratory in hopes of winning the man’s heart. He hadn’t accepted any of them, of course, preferring instead to say he was married to his work. Bobbi hadn’t minded that; it was simpler knowing that Fitz wasn’t romantically interested in her, because then when they talked about his work, she wasn’t afraid he was thinking about getting her into bed instead.

Things had changed, of course. The more time she had spent with Fitz the more fond of him she’d become, and now there were times when Bobbi wished Fitz would invite her to bed with him.

He never did, of course. He just kept chattering on about whatever his invention of the day was while she listened and offered whatever advice she could. Bobbi had been inclined towards science until she’d instead switched her path to become a guardian. Most days she didn’t regret the switch, but occasionally she did wonder what her life would look like if she could stay holed up with Fitz all day, every day.

Maybe then he would fall in love with her, too.

“Well? Don’t you want to know?” Fitz prompted, jerking Bobbi from her reverie.

“Are you actually going to tell me anything.”

“...No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be asked!”

“Tell me, Leo, what was your breakthrough?” she said, humoring him.

“I’m not going to tell you.” He smiled a smug little smile that made her heart leap traitorously in her chest, and Bobbi sighed as Fitz flipped his goggles back over his eyes and returned to whatever he had been working on when she first walked in.

Some days they would talk while he worked, but others he wasn’t the best conversationalist. Bobbi didn’t mind; when Fitz rolled up the sleeves of his starched white shirt, the muscles of his forearms stood out in sharp relief and gave her more than enough to occupy herself with.

Even if she couldn’t have him, at least she could watch him work.

\---

The next week when Bobbi came by to visit, Fitz was already waiting for her at the door. 

Bobbi furrowed her brow suspiciously, stopping a few feet short of Fitz. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he answered, a bit too quickly to settle Bobbi’s nerves. “I - there’s something I want to show you.” He offered her his arm and Bobbi took it hesitantly, allowing him to lead her around the side of the conservatory. After her first trek to the back Bobbi had vowed never to go there again; it was overgrown with weeds and thistles and briars that snagged at her skirts. She hadn’t been happy when she’d spent the better part of her evening stitching up all the tears.

This time when Fitz pushed past the wall of foliage, though, there were no weeds. The back was neatly manicured, the grass short and tidy and the wall of forest hacked back far enough to create a clear pathway. Bobbi’s stomach began sneaking up her throat; she couldn’t imagine why Fitz would go through the effort of clearing the area if not for something awfully important.

When they rounded the corner to the clearing, Bobbi’s jaw dropped.

“What is that?” she asked, voice hushed with awe.

“I call it a hot air balloon,” Fitz said proudly. “It can fly.”

“It can fly?” Bobbi repeated dumbly.

“It can,” Fitz confirmed. “I tested it yesterday and it worked beautifully.”

“I - how, Fitz?”

“I got the idea from working in the loft, actually,” Fitz said, leading her closer to the wicker basket at the base of the balloon. “Hot air is less dense than cool air, you see, and that makes it rise. With enough sufficiently heated air, I figured it could carry something with it, too.”

“And how do you steer it?” Bobbi asked. There was no point in getting up into the air if she couldn’t control where she was going.

“There’s a rudder, like a ship,” Fitz explained patiently. “I landed it the same place I took off from, even with a headwind.”

“I… I can fly?” Bobbi stuttered.

“You can fly,” Fitz said, grinning broadly. “Go take a look.”

Bobbi dropped his arm, approaching the wicker basket of the balloon cautiously. There was a little step that folded out to make climbing into the basket easier, even in her skirt, and Bobbi smiled to herself as she stepped into it. The control panel on the opposite end of the basket was small, but it held everything Bobbi imagined a flying machine would need - a toggle to turn on the heated air that would help the balloon rise, a compass to let her know which way she was flying, an altimeter to let her know how high she was, and even a tiny gauge that showed how fast she was moving.

It was everything she imagined it would be, and more.

“I know there’s not much room for carrying your things, but -”

“It’s perfect,” Bobbi interrupted, whirling back around. “Is this the secret project you’ve been working on all this time?”

Fitz nodded sheepishly. “I didn’t want to disappoint you, if I told you I was working on your flying machine and it took too long. So I made up another project, so I could surprise you.” He looked down at his scuffed boots contritely. “I’m sorry for lying.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Bobbi insisted. “This is the nicest thing anyone has done for me, Fitz.” She jumped out of the basket of the balloon so she could sweep Fitz up into a fierce hug. She had no idea of how else she could thank him.

“You deserve it,” Fitz said, pulling away from her. “You deserve to be happy, Bobbi.”

Bobbi bit her lip. She _was_ happy, incandescently so, but… “I won’t be happy unless you’re there with me.”

“What?”

“The basket is big enough for two,” Bobbi said, gesturing towards it. Fitz probably knew better than she did how big it was and how much weight it could carry, but still - she needed to tell him so. “And I - all of my best adventures have been with you, don’t you see?” Even if all those adventures were mostly intellectual pursuits, falling down rabbit holes together as they helped Fitz create something new… they were still adventures Bobbi was proud to have had, adventures she couldn’t imagine her life without.

“You don’t want me with you,” Fitz said demurely.

“But I _do_ ,” Bobbi insisted. “Fitz, I love you!”

She heard the breath catch in her throat, and Bobbi squeezed her eyes shut. Damnit. She shouldn’t have said that.

“I love you, too.”

Her eyes popped open and Bobbi gawped at him. “But… but you -”

“You’re brilliant, Bobbi. You’re brilliant, and funny, and patient, and you put up with my temper better than anyone else, and I’ve loved you practically from the moment you walked through my door. It’s the reason I kept trying to make this confounded balloon after I failed so many times. But you never seemed to want me like that, so I didn’t say anything.”

“You were the one who never wanted it!” Bobbi spluttered. “You turned down every lady who sought after you!”

“Because they weren’t interested in my mind. They were just interested in the… the fancifulness of being married to the inventor at the edge of town. They wanted a life out of a romance novel, not me.”

“I want you,” Bobbi said quietly. She wanted a life out of a novel, yes - she wanted to fly away into the sunset, waiting for a new adventure to start wherever they landed - but more than that, she wanted a life with Fitz. as her lover, as her best friend, as something else entirely; she didn’t care, as long as he was there with her.

“You can have me,” Fitz whispered.

Bobbi pulled him into her, handles cradling his face as their mouths met in a kiss. It was soft at first, uncertain, but a fire lit itself in Bobbi’s belly the longer she was holding Fitz so close to her. Her hands slid from his face around the back of his head, tangling in the curls of his hair. She had always loved plucking at his curls teasingly, but now Bobbi was tugging on them for an entirely different reason, savoring the soft noise of pleasure drawn from the back of Fitz’s throat.

“Perhaps we don’t have to fly away forever,” Bobbi suggested when they drew apart, her chest heaving. “Perhaps we can go on adventures and then come here - come home.” Then they could have the best of both worlds; Fitz could continue his work as an inventor and her as a guardian, but they could also see the world and all that it had to show them. They could figure out what a life together would look like while not also trying to figure out strange new places all the time… and Bobbi also wouldn’t have to figure out how to fit her entire wardrobe into one trunk.

“You think of the conservatory as your home?” Fitz asked quietly.

“I think of wherever you are as my home,” Bobbi said honestly. Even before they had declared their love, Fitz had been her truest friend, one of the only people in her life who treated her as an equal. That was something she could find any _where_ , but not with just any _one_.

“This weeked, we can go for a fly, then,” Fitz said, pulling her down for a quick kiss. “We both should pack.

“Perhaps,” Bobbi said. “Or perhaps you could just kiss me again.”

Fitz grinned up at her, blue eyes shining. “Yes, perhaps that would be the better course of action.”

In the shadow of the laboratory as the sunset painted the lawn around them red and gold, Bobbi Morse kissed Leo Fitz again, and again, and again. When Saturday came they would fly away together, but right now, they both had everything they needed here on the ground.


End file.
